I

"Kill the red hair and be free!"

"Kill the red hair and be free!"

The September 9th slogan has been changed, and there seem to be scholars in the rebel army.

Early in the morning, every family in Shimei Village cooks delicious food. If there are chickens, kill chickens, and if there are ducks, kill ducks. If that doesn't work, just cook a dry meal.

No one knew whether the uprising would succeed. They prepared "decapitation rice" for themselves and wanted to fight to the death with the red-haired ghost. They no longer thought about saving food to live.

The rebels first gathered in Shimei Village. In the middle of the morning, rebels from surrounding villages came to surrender.

There were men, women, and children, holding bamboo poles, hoes, kitchen knives and other weapons in their hands. Because the Dutch prohibited the Han people from hiding weapons privately, the tens of thousands of rebel troops could not find even a waist knife.

Guo Huai climbed up and shouted: "Dear elders in my hometown, the red-haired ghost is squeezing our blood and sweat. Today I will take you to eat red-haired meat and drink red-haired blood!"

"Eat red meat, drink red blood!"

"Kill the red hair and be free!"

"Kill!"

The rebel army set off in a mighty manner. When they approached Chican City, many Han people joined them one after another, and the number was close to 10,000. There were even children as young as eleven or twelve years old, led by their mothers, charging excitedly with wooden sticks.

Guo Huai pointed at Chichan City: "Fight with me!"

Chikan City has no city walls. It is an urban area where Han Chinese, indigenous people and Dutch immigrants gathered around the Chikan Tower (castle).

The rebel army divided into three groups and rushed in from three directions.

In the Han-inhabited area, the rebels shouted with all their strength: "Han brothers, rebel quickly, kill the red hair, and get freedom!"

Han Chinese in some houses and shops were inspired by the rebels and took up arms to join the ranks. There are also many Han people who are hiding in their homes or shops for fear that they will be involved.

The natives living in the city are basically Dutch losers. They wanted to escape into the castle, but the Dutch defenders refused to open the door and told them to go back and suffer the wrath of the Han people.

"Burn them all, leaving no room behind!"

Guo Huaiyi stood in an aboriginal settlement and pointed to the houses and shops there. The houses are inhabited by indigenous people, but most of the shops are owned by the Dutch, who are usually managed by losers (including many Han losers).

In the blink of an eye, half of the city was on fire.

"Surround Chikan Tower!" Guo Huaiyi ordered again.

The main pattern on the five-dollar New Taiwan Dollar is the Chihkan Tower, but that is what it looked like after Zheng Chenggong renovated it. The red-walled building at this time is a typical European castle.

As for the city of Relanjia, where the Governor of Taiwan lives, it is a few miles west of Chikan Tower and located on an offshore island. The terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

By this time, the Han rebel army had exceeded 12,000 people, and a large number of residents in the city participated in the uprising.

They surrounded Chica Castle, removed wooden planks to make stairs, and in the afternoon began to try to attack the castle.

Countless Han people carried wooden ladders and held improvised weapons in their hands, rushing towards the castle desperately.

Inside the castle, there were only 106 Dutch defenders.

"boom!"

There was a sound of artillery, and iron bullets hit the crowd, plowing a path of flesh and blood. Nearly twenty rebels were either dead or maimed.

"Bang bang bang!"

Gunshots rang out again, and more than thirty rebels who rushed to the front fell immediately.

"Hell, what year is this gunpowder?"

"Those monkeys are coming!"

"Go and push the wooden ladder away!"

"..."

The Dutch defenders in the castle were now in chaos.

They received a report from the traitor last night, but they didn't take it seriously at all. They didn't even bother to check the powder keg.

Some of the matchlocks in these guys' hands were already moldy. The gunpowder in the gunpowder barrel was not only affected by moisture, but the gunpowder in the barrel was stagnant and had to be broken up with a hammer before it could be stuffed into the barrel.

Again, the Dutch Army is here to make fun of them.

Their military pay was so pitiful that they couldn't support themselves at all. They had to leave the castle and work in shops in the city to make a living. There are also many who have returned to their old profession, extorting money from Han merchants every day, and supporting their families by being ruffians.

Historically, after Zheng Chenggong surrounded Chikan Tower, the more than a hundred defenders in the castle surrendered.

"The attack is coming, the attack is coming!"

"Quickly retreat!"

The rebels suffered more than a hundred casualties and finally captured the outer fortifications of the castle. The Dutch defenders retreated further inside in panic.

Withdrawing and retreating turned into a rout, and they were almost completely wiped out by the rebels.

"we won!"

"Long live, long live!"

The rebels cheered and Guo Huai and his men entered the castle and distributed the captured cold weapons to their cronies.

The news that the rebels occupied Chikan Tower spread quickly to all directions. That night, more Han people from nearby villages came to vote, and by dawn the uprising team had increased to 16,000 people.

The Dutch Governor of Taiwan, who was only a few miles away in Jelandze and received the traitor's message in advance, did not send troops until the next morning.

Taiwan Army Commander Dan Ker personally led 120 soldiers to kill them.

These Dutch army troops are obviously more reliable than the defenders of Chiqianlou. At least, their muskets are not moldy, their gunpowder is not hardened and damp, and even their usual wages are higher.

They carried artillery and an army of 2,000 indigenous servants.

Chiyan Castle is too small to accommodate more than 10,000 rebels. As soon as Guo Huai detected the enemy's movements, he took the initiative to lead his troops to attack, and asked his brother Wu Hualong to lead the remaining troops to garrison the castle.

A fierce battle broke out between the two sides by the Erren River.

Although the Dutch Army only has 120 people, it carries more than ten artillery pieces, and every encounter is a bombardment.

On the rebel side, there was no formation at all, they were huddled together and charged. More than a dozen artillery pieces concentrated their bombardment, immediately scattering a tribe of more than 2,000 people, and the indigenous servant army also rushed over.

The strength of the two sides is not equal.

Although the rebel army was large in number, they only had wooden sticks, bamboo poles, hoes, and kitchen knives, but the indigenous army carried real weapons. The opponent even had earthen bows for hunting, and the rebels were shot to the point where many fled.

As soon as Guo Huai saw that the situation was not good, and if the situation continued like this, the entire army would definitely collapse. He pulled out the waist knife he had captured from the castle: "Follow me and take the enemy's general directly!"

The two thousand people led by Guo Huaiyi were all young and strong.

They charged bravely towards Denker's main Dutch force, but they were attacked by a round of artillery fire and did not break up.

"Bang bang bang!"

There was a burst of gunfire, and Guo Huaiyi, who was charging forward, was unfortunately shot and fell to the ground.

"Brother Guo!"

"Run quickly, the red-haired ghost's fire blunderbuss is powerful!"

The death of Guo Huaiyi led to the collapse of the main force of the rebel army. Most of the people turned around and fled. They started their rebellion with passion, but now they have lost their backbone, and their passion has gone cold.

A few of Guo Huaiyi's cronies risked their lives to snatch the body and fled with Guo Huaiyi's body.

"The whole army goes out to hunt down the rebels!"

Danker pulled out his command sword, turned over and mounted his horse, leading the few cavalrymen in pursuit.

Including Denker, the Dutch had only four men on horseback. But along the way, they killed dozens of defeated soldiers and captured more than a thousand rebels. The indigenous servants were also killing and capturing the rebels.

When Wu Hualong learned that Guo Huai had been killed, he was grieved and ordered to defend the castle. He said to the rebels: "Brother Guo has sent someone to contact His Majesty's army. As long as we hold on for two or three days, the imperial officers and soldiers will come to rescue us!"

The Dutch army and the indigenous army were too few to besiege the castle, so they chose to surround the castle with three and one missing.

"Boom boom boom!"

More than ten cannons were directed at the castle, bombarding it from morning to evening.

Although the bombing could not collapse the city wall and did not cause any casualties to the rebels in the city, the morale of the rebels holding hoes plummeted.

Just when it was getting dark, Danker felt that the time was right and ordered the indigenous troops to attack the city.

This kind of low European castle, garrisoned by firearms troops, will become a nightmare for the siege team. But the rebels didn't even have cold weapons, not to mention firearms. How could they withstand the indigenous attack?

Seeing that a city wall was lost, Wu Hualong could only say: "Follow me to the north to break out!"

Countless rebels rushed towards the north gate frantically. In order to escape for their lives, they fought bravely one by one. The native servants were so frightened that they gave way.

Danker saw this and said with a smile: "Let them escape. After they all escape from the castle, they will not be desperate, but think about how to escape."

As a result, the Dutch army and the indigenous army all stood aside and watched without taking action.

It wasn't until most of the rebels escaped that Danker said: "Pursue them with all your strength!"

Sure enough, after the rebels escaped from the castle, they completely lost their courage to fight and fled in panic in a direction where there were no pursuers.

Wu Hualong tried to organize his troops to rear, but no one listened to him.

There are more than 16,000 rebels. At this point in the battle, nearly 2,000 men have been killed, more than 3,000 men have been captured, and more than 5,000 women and children have been killed or captured.

Danker ordered: "Haosheng will keep the prisoners under guard, kill all the leaders after questioning, and temporarily lock up the rest of the thugs."

The governor of Taiwan has not yet made up his mind and wants to kill all the Han people. However, Han people are needed to run the city, and Han people are also needed to grow food. The indigenous people are not as effective as the Han people.

Wu Hualong and his remaining soldiers successfully escaped under the cover of darkness.

On the way, they encountered several groups of broken troops, all of which collapsed following Guo Huaiyi's battle.

The next morning, Wu Hualong counted the number of people and found that there were only more than 1,000 people left around him. Most are adult men, and only a few are women and children.

The people were hungry, crying and wailing.

Wu Hualong had no choice but to comfort him and said, "Go north. There are officers and soldiers sent by His Majesty there. If we meet the officers and soldiers, we will be safe!"

At this moment, Li Dingguo was on his way with anger.

He sent someone to notify Guo Huaiyi, telling him not to mess around and wait until next year to join the Datong Army in action.

The battle plan of the Datong Army is to capture the cities of Relanja and Chican together, and they must hoard enough food to slowly siege the city.

Historically, when Zheng Chenggong regained Taiwan, Chican City was easily conquered, but Relanja City was besieged for nine months. That can't be done with a large number of people. The strong fortress on the island requires the cooperation of the navy and the army. After winning the naval battle, the city can be slowly besieged.

In Tainan at this time, the Netherlands had four warships (armed merchant ships).

The largest is the Hector, with a displacement of 650 tons and a ship carrying 27 iron cannons and 9 bronze cannons. Although the Datong Navy's Taiwan fleet has more than thirty warships, the largest one is only 400 tons, and Zheng Zhilong sold it to the court at a low price.

Zhao Han's warship made of century-old oak will not be launched until at least next autumn, and it will be a good time to practice with the Dutch.

However, the court's plan was disrupted by Guo Huaiyi's unauthorized actions.

Li Dingguo had no choice but to save him. He knew that the imperial court spent a huge amount of money and food every year on immigration. The number of Han people near Chican City is close to 20,000. As long as they can be saved, it will save the court countless immigration expenses.